Children are being used as pawns or are being overlooked entirely in Ireland’s family law system, the Oireachtas Justice Committee heard on Wednesday.
David Walsh of Men’s Voices Ireland said that the rights of children are being lost in the tussle between competing parental rights and being “used as pawns in custody battles”.
“Current practice puts the adult at centre stage whereas the child’s welfare should be paramount and his/her fundamental right to know and spend time with both parents.”
He added that joint custody in a real 50:50 sense occurs in only about 1% of cases.
The Committee also heard from Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Dr Geoffrey Shannon who said that the common law adversarial system is “highly unsuited” for these types of case as “parents are focused on winning”.
This can be psychologically damaging for both the parents and their children, he added.
